|
Monday, August 1, 2005 Some last thoughts on Garcia's birthday. Recently a copy of So Many Roads arrived in my post box, which I ordered about six weeks ago when I was in Montreal. It's a cloth-bound five-disc compilation of rarities and peak moments selected from out of an entire tape vault by three guys with a true devotion to the Grateful Dead's music -- with help from the late Dick Latvala, the Dead's principal tape archivist and namesake of the Dick's Picks series. The end of the last disc is the part I keep playing over and over, and can't get out of my mind. The feeling of the songs has been following me around everywhere like an atmosphere the past few days. There are three gems. Two are Grateful Dead songs I had never heard until last week, ones from the end of their career, after I had stopped going to shows, and which I never discovered on recordings. The first is a song called "Days Between," which I quote in my article -- I'll place a link to the full, annotated lyrics in a moment. It's from a studio rehearsal in 1993. This is the last song composed together by one of the truly great songwriting teams of our times, Garcia and Robert Hunter. It's a long, sad, sweet retrospective of what they've all been through, in life and as the Grateful Dead. I don't even know what to say about it, except how moved and how sad I feel every time I hear it. It reminds me of a dark windy day on the West side of Manhattan. Also from 1993 is a studio session in which Garcia starts plucking out an old Irish ballad called "Whiskey in the Jar" that he used to sing before the Dead days, and the band picks it up in a minute. You get a feeling for the laid back, warm atmosphere in the studio and the respect that his bandmates have for him (with 'the kid' Bob Weir of course poking fun at grandpa for remembering it "words and all," just like that, after 30 years). Bassist Phil Lesh says, "It's a folk song," and Jerry replies with a smile, "Yeah, but it's a cool one." There he is, close enough to touch, sweetly singing (moderate tempo, count four, in C major), Some take delight in fishing and bowling Last on the compilation is the song "So Many Roads," recorded at the final Grateful Dead concert at Soldier Field in Chicago on July 9, 1995. This song has come a long way from the Dead's anthemic lines, "Lately it occurs to me what a long, strange trip it's been." Garcia's performance of this is astounding, passionate, a cry to heaven, and his last performance. I can barely believe it when I hear it. Wind inside & the wind outside Friends and brothers and sisters, life is short and fragile, so please take care of yourself, and take care of each other. And if you've got a problem that's dragging your life down, just get the help you need. It's okay. People want to help. Jerry, I miss you and I love you and I wish you were here. Man, you left this planet a lot better place than you found it. ----------------- Days Between http://arts.ucsc.edu/gdead/agdl/days.html Whiskey in the Jar http://snipurl.com/gnba So Many Roads http://arts.ucsc.edu/gdead/agdl/soma.html And here's a really cool one -- a guide to Jerry's guitars (this, I will send to dad in a second; he has quite a nice collection himself). http://www.nii.net/~obie1/deadcd/garcia_guitars.htm | ||||||
|
